FILE - This Feb. 7, 2012 file photo shows Texas Tech coach Billy Gillispie gesturing to his team during the first half of a college basketball game against Kansas State, in Manhattan, Kan. The Texas Tech athletic director says coach Gillispie is no longer making day-to-day decisions for the basketball program so he can focus on his health. Kirby Hocutt said Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, that he told Gillispie late last week that he was not "to engage" in the program in "any way" until the two talk face to face about allegations of player mistreatment. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File) less

FILE - This Feb. 7, 2012 file photo shows Texas Tech coach Billy Gillispie gesturing to his team during the first half of a college basketball game against Kansas State, in Manhattan, Kan. The Texas Tech ... more

Photo: Charlie Riedel

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FILE - In this Nov. 18, 2017, file photo, Alabama tight end Hale Hentges, left, celebrates with Irv Smith Jr. after scoring a touchdown during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Mercer, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The Crimson Tide got the nod over Ohio State and will play Clemson in the College Football Playoff on Jan. 1, 2018, in the Sugar Bowl. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File) ORG XMIT: NYAG707 less

FILE - In this Nov. 18, 2017, file photo, Alabama tight end Hale Hentges, left, celebrates with Irv Smith Jr. after scoring a touchdown during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Mercer, in ... more

Photo: Brynn Anderson

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Tide top Ohio St. for final selection

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Alabama is in.

The Crimson Tide got the nod over Ohio State and will play Clemson in the College Football Playoff on Jan. 1 in the Sugar Bowl. Oklahoma and Georgia will meet in the Rose Bowl semifinal a few hours earlier.

Tide or Buckeyes was the question facing the selection committee, the toughest call in the four-year history of the playoff.

The Tide had been more consistent and lost just once. The Buckeyes lost twice, including an embarrassing 31-point loss at unranked Iowa, but have the more impressive set of victories. Ohio State won the Big Ten while Alabama did not even win its Southeastern Conference division.

The committee rolled with the Tide, and for the first time the playoff will include two teams from the same conference. Alabama joins SEC champion Georgia and an all-SEC title game on Jan. 8 is possible.

Ohio State was fifth, Wisconsin was sixth and Auburn was seventh. Southern California finished eighth, followed by Penn State and Miami.

More Information

Semifinals

Rose Bowl

(Pasadena, Calif.)

No. 2 Oklahoma (12-1) vs. No. 3 Georgia (12-1), 5:10 p.m. (ESPN)

Sugar Bowl

(New Orleans)

No. 1 Clemson (12-1) vs. No. 4 Alabama (11-1), 8:45 p.m. (ESPN)

Committee chairman Kirby Hocutt said the Iowa loss hurt Ohio State and the Buckeyes were not close enough to the Tide for the Big Ten championship result — a 27-21 win over previously unbeaten Wisconsin — to matter.

"As we saw Alabama play week in and week out, the selection committee believed Alabama was the better football team," Hocutt told ESPN. "When we looked at Ohio State, when you looked at their resume it was impressive but it wasn't enough for the selection committee to place them in above Alabama."

The committee protocol states conference championships are to be considered it the teams are close, like a tiebreaker.

"In this case the margins weren't close enough to look at those other matters," Hocutt said.

Alabama (11-1) made it 4-for-4 in the playoff, the only team that has made them all. Coach Nick Saban told ESPN he trusted the committee would come to the right conclusion.

"I really do believe based on the total body of work that our team really deserved to be in," Saban said.

And for the third straight season, college football gets an Alabama-Clemson matchup in the playoff, though this time in the semifinals.

The Tide beat the Tigers in a classic national championship game in Glendale, Arizona, two seasons ago. The teams played another thriller last season and Clemson took the title in Tampa, Florida.

"Alabama's been the standard for a long time," Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said.

Clemson (12-1) is making its third straight playoff appearance, but first without star quarterback Deshaun Watson. The Tigers won another Atlantic Coast Conference championship with Kelly Bryant as the quarterback.

Georgia (12-1) and Oklahoma (12-1) have never played. The Bulldogs have surged in their second season under coach Kirby Smart. After winning eight games last season, Georgia won the SEC for the first time since 2005.

Oklahoma is in the playoff for the second time and will likely bring the Heisman Trophy winner. Quarterback Baker Mayfield is the favorite to win the award next weekend. If so, Mayfield will be the third player to go from winning the Heisman on to the playoff, joining Oregon's Marcus Mariota in 2014 and Alabama's Derrick Henry in 2015.

The Alabama-Ohio State debate was the trickiest of the playoff era. Most talented or most accomplished? Neither team neatly matched precedent. Ohio State made it to the playoff without even playing in its conference title game last season, but those Buckeyes had a more convincing resume, with three victories against top-10 teams. Alabama could not match that.

Not only had no team ever made the playoff with two losses, but none had as ugly a stain on its resume as Ohio State's 31-point loss at Iowa. Tide coach Nick Saban mentioned it Saturday night on ESPN as the selection committee went to work.

In the Top 25 released earlier Sunday, Alabama was fourth by a mere seven points over No. 5 Ohio State.